The consonants of the name Yahweh, or the “Tetragrammaton,” the Israelite personal name for God. Out of reverence, and as a way of assuring that they will not take God’s name “in vain,” Orthodox and other observant Jews never pronounce God’s name, using the term “haShem,” “the Name,” in secular situations or “Adonai,” “Lord,” in liturgy. Most printed Bibles translate “Yahweh” as “lord.”